Booktopia co-founder Tony Nash expects sales at the online book seller to further outpace the overall book market as more consumers start shopping online.

Booktopia’s sales rose 51 per cent to $112.6 million in the six months ended December 31 from $74.5 million in the year-earlier period. The growth rate was almost double that of a year ago; Mr Nash thinks the surge was fuelled more by the accelerating shift to e-commerce than demand from people stuck at home during the pandemic.